Dry hopping... is it safe?

[sam_charrington]

Has anyone ever killed their beer by dry hopping? I know hops are meant to be naturally hostile to infectious agents, but can it go wrong sometimes? Do you simply chuck a few cones into the cask at the start of the secondary fermentation (I'm using Goldings)?

Thanks.

Sam

[dave-o]

Do you simply chuck a few cones into the cask at the start of the secondary fermentation (I'm using Goldings)?

Yes.

This crops up quite often and the general consensus is it's fine. I haven't read of anyone having an infection and blaming it on the dry hops.

[sam_charrington]

Thanks for that - very reassuring for a first time dry-hopper. It's such a counter-intuitive thing to do after the lengths you've gone to to keep everything clean up to that point.

[Manx Guy]

Hi,

Yes hop acids are naturally 'antiseptic' so shouldn't harbour much in the way of bacteria or wild yeasts.

The theory is that when you dry hop a beer in secondary or in a keg/cask its fermentable sugars have mostly been used this and the fact its alcoholic keep any potential beer spoiling yeasts and bacteria away.

I've dry hopped in secondary and in the Poly pin with no problems... altough some posters have reported off flavours from a poor choice of hops...
Some impart a grassy flavour which is not to everyones liking...

You should be good with goldings though (my last dry hopped beer was with Styrian Goldings)!

Hope this helps!


Guy

[sam_charrington]

Brilliant - thanks for all the info. Sam

[boingy]

Thanks for that - very reassuring for a first time dry-hopper. It's such a counter-intuitive thing to do after the lengths you've gone to to keep everything clean up to that point.

I agree. It defo feels wrong chucking some unprocessed dried flowers into the precious beer but I also have never heard of infection being caused by dry hopping. Hop flowers have some antibacterial and preservative properties but there must still be all sorts of grit/insects/whatever in them but it seems to work out. I guess the finished beer is reasonably resistant to infection.

[crookedeyeboy]

I do it in the fermenter and touch wood no problems so far.

[yogester]

just make sure they stay submerged in the beer. I have heard of infections where the hop sack has floated on top of the beer.

[Manx Guy]

You can use magnets or baking clay weights to ensure the grain/bag sinks....

The added benfit of using magnets is you can raise the hops out of the beer with out removing the barrel lid!

But if you do use a bag ensure you boil it for at least 5 minutes in a pan of water before adding the hops to sanitise it...

I dont use a bag any more as I have made hop screens for my Poly pins and pressure barrels - using some stainless steel screen I bought of ebay.



Guy